LG V30 vs Samsung Galaxy S8+ first look comparison

It’s that time of year again when new phone announcementsstart ramping up. This week LG announced their flagship-level V30, which has uslooking all sorts of crazy ways at our old devices; for example, the GalaxyS8+. So, we figured now would be the proper time for these two devices to meetcordially, and fight to the death for our hard-earned money, no?

 

Design

 

The V30 may be one of the best-looking phones out right now,but the Galaxy S8+ made commendable strides in design, as well – stuffing a 6.2-inchscreen into its skinny frame, is no small feat. In fact, the V30 may owe its so-called“truvision” edge-to-edge design to the S8, which precedes it, and looks prettydarn sleek itself. Both devices have plenty of shininess and curved edges to goaround, but the V30’s fingerprint sensor (which also functions as the powerbutton) has a much better placement than the S8+’s, too-high-up-and-to-the-leftsensor. The V30 is a bit wider, but the in-hand feel of both is great – thinnerversus wider ultimately made no difference in comfort.

Display

 

Both of these manufacturers are well-known for theirtop-of-the-line televisions, and as such neither skimps on display quality,either. Using the OLED technology of its 4K TV’s, LG’s V30 has a gorgeousscreen, with very accurate colors and details. The S8+ uses Super AMOLEDtechnology, which is also very vivid and detailed, making the differencesbetween the two difficult to see without deeper testing – ultimately, that’s agood thing.

 

Interface and Performance

 

Here’s where we expect some distance between the two – but notat first. While we’ve not yet done a deep dive on the V30’s performance overtime, we know from our own anecdotal experiences that the S8+ can tend to slowdown a bit over time – as any phone can. Still, the S8+ and other Samsung’sseem to have a chronic and pronounced issue with this. We hope the V30 doesn’t sufferfrom such early signs of aging, as it’s a very quick and fluid device that weloved to navigate and watch do its job. The Samsung is too – both of whichrunning on the Snapdragon 835 with 4 GB of RAM – but LG’s animations and motionseem to be just right, not too fast and frantic and not too slow andoverly-fancy, again, just right.

 

Samsung was once known for its ability to take high-spec’d,high-end phones and slow them down with their bulky UI. The Samsung Experienceaims to lessen this effect, organizing phone settings, and lightening up animations,and doing so to great effect. Issues with slow-down over time may stillpersist, but at least initially the device is lightning quick, just as the V30is.

 

We’d be remiss in not mentioning the V30’s Quad-DAC Hi-Fisetup. This little goody adds not only the ability to listen to Hi-Res audio,but the ability to record in high quality as well. This is a great addition forthose who love music, and those who love to create. Speaking of which..

 

Camera

 

Now this is where things get a little more interesting. TheV30 packs a pair of 16 and 13-megapixel cameras, with the former being aregular lens, and the latter a wide-angle. LG’s done quite an impressive jobwith cutting down distortion from the wide-angle lens, therefore making it avery usable and fun option. The regular lens also shows great strengths in detailcapture and low-light performance – pulling details and colors from dark,underexposed scenes. The lone complaint we have so far, is the sensors tendencyto overexpose brighter areas. That little sliver of disappointment is the S8+’smain opportunity to steal the win here, as the Samsung is highly adept in thesame areas as the V30 – offering highly-capable low-light performance, andpulling in enviable colors and details. Early on, we may have to give Samsungthe edge in a regular lens comparison, since the S8+ does not have dual sensorsas the V30 does. LG, however, did not add a bokeh-creating blurry backgroundmode like Samsung’s newest Note 8, and only uses its second lens for wide-angleshots. This leaves the door open for the future S9+ to not only gain a secondlens, but bokeh and wide-angle capability to match and exceed the V30, as well.

 

The V30 is very oriented towards those who like to createvideos and photos with their phones, though, and as such would not be outdone(for now) by any phone when it comes to features. Many shooting modes exist forthe V30, including a few for fun and social media, but also some for betterfunction. The coolest and most useful addition is a feature named GRAPHY, whichallows users to select professionally taken photos (which are similar incomposition to the photo they’re about to take) from which the exact settings ofthe camera used to take the photo will be extracted and applied to the user’scamera, so that they can have the fine touch of a professional in their ownshots – pretty nifty stuff. While the S8+ has a few pre-installed shootingmodes, and a couple to download, nothing comes close to this in terms offeatures and function.

 

Pressing onward into the list of camera-related featureswhich the V30 lords over the S8+, video shooting also proved quite important toLG, and topping their competitors seems like slight work here – at least interms of offering such useful features. LG’s Cine Video feature adds four maincomponents to the video shooting, andproducing prowess of the V30. This suite includes; Point and Zoom, which locksfocus on a specific part of the screen and allows the user to zoom in on itsmoothly; Cine Effect, which contains 15 different movie-genre-inspired filtersto film with; Cine Log, which facilitates easy editing in programs like AdobePremiere; and Video Studio, an on-board editing software which allows you towork with multiple photos and videos, as well as add after-effects to yourmobile masterpiece. Please excuse us while we try to remember the other phonein the comparison here.

 

Oh, that’s right, the S8+. Well, like we said. The camera onthe S8+ is one of the best in the game, but is that enough still? With the V30closely behind it in performance, the answer to that question may be easier forsome than others. Of course, part of it will come down to preference, but atthe same time, why not gain a great wide-angle lens, and deep video creatingoptions? That may be the harder question to answer.

Conclusion

 

Ultimately, the S8+ and V30 represent some of the best thatthe mobile market has to offer right now. Designs are beautiful andincreasingly functional, while performance is a category in which it’s becomingharder to create meaningful distance – which is great for us customers! That doesn’tmean some manufacturers can’t screw it up, with confusing bloated software, orbad battery life, but these issues don’t seem to afflict either device. Thecamera, and the features within, are easily the biggest separators between thetwo. So, which one of these gorgeous devices checks all the right boxes foryou?